Calls for a suspension of neonicotinoid insecticides are a disproportionate reaction to a complex problem and there is no evidence that such a move will lead to any meaningful improvement in bee health.

The reasons that there are declines in some pollinator populations are complicated and not well understood and include factors such as habitat loss, viruses and parasites.

Similarly the call to withdraw the approval of neonicotinoids in gardens and amenity areas is unjustified and not supported by any evidence of harm from their proper use in these areas."

– CPA chief executive Nick von Westenholz

Meanwhile Defra's chief scientific advisor Professor Ian Boyd has said the issue surrounding pesticides and bees was finely balanced and that it would not be proportionate to ban the chemicals at the moment.

He said there was a trade-off between the costs of reduced crop pollination if populations of bees and other pollinators are affected and the costs of reduced yields or environmental problems associated with other pesticides that farmers would use instead.

The European Commission has called for the use of certain neonicotinoids to be restricted so they cannot be used on crops that are attractive to bees.

The UK however had urged the Commission to wait for the results of a Government-commissioned field study on bumblebees, which did not show conclusively that there was a major impact on the insects from the pesticides.

The European Commission want a partial ban on neonicotinoids. Credit: PA

The MPs also said that when scientific evidence was incomplete or contradictory, the Environment Department (Defra) should take precautionary action rather than maintaining the status quo while waiting for further evidence.

The report also called for greater openness from pesticide companies, who use arguments of commercial sensitivity to keep data secret, so that their research into the environmental impacts of chemicals could be scrutinised.

And clearer targets were needed to reduce reliance on pesticides, it said.

Ministers have been accused of taking an "extraordinarily complacent approach" to protecting bees and insects from pesticides which are blamed for their numbers declining, MPs have said.

The parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee said the weight of evidence now warranted precautionary action to protect insects such as bees, moths, butterflies and hoverflies, many of which are suffering declines in numbers in the UK.

Pesticides are killing bees at an alarming rate, MPs have said Credit: PA

Concerns have been raised over possible damage to bees from exposure to neonicotinoids, with research suggesting immediate or long-term effects on bee colony survival and development, and disruption to foraging behaviour.

A moratorium on use of three neonicotinoid pesticides on crops such as oil seed rape which bees feed on should be introduced by the beginning of 2014, a report by the committee said.

And their use in private gardens and places such as golf courses should be banned immediately to create "an urban safe haven for bees".